11 weird products that you probably didn't know Microsoft made

Microsoft, as a company, is vast: With over 40 years of heritage and 118,000 employees across every continent — not to mention almost $100 billion (£64 billion) in revenue during 2015 — it's regarded as a pioneer of the computing world.

Almost everyone is familiar with Windows or Office, collectively two of the most widely used pieces of software ever, and will come into contact with them on a day-to-day basis.

Microsoft's domination of the PC world is part of the reason that the Windows XP default background is said to be the most viewed photo of our age and Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft along with Paul Allen, is the richest man in the world, even after giving away over $27 billion (£17.4 billion).

While these products are well known, Microsoft has also produced some obscure hardware over the past years. Here are nine of the best.

Microsoft broadband networking.

The broadband hub the company made between 2002 and 2004.
epc-smallparts / eBay

For a brief period between 2002 and 2004, Microsoft manufactured a broadband router that, at one point, even became the second most popular US retail Wi-Fi product.

The router worked like every other on the market, offering USB support and a 802.11b connection (also known as Wi-Fi).

In May 2004 the market share of the product slipped and manufacturing ceased, putting an end to Microsoft's broadband dreams.

2/

A cordless phone system.

The cordless phone from 1998 which had the ability to record up to nine minutes of calling.
Microsoft / YouTube

Way before Lumia, Microsoft was involved in the phone market, albeit without the "smart" part.

The Microsoft Cordless Phone System was impressive for its time — which was around 1998 —offering PC integration, speech recognition (for things like "Call John Smith"), caller ID, and more.

The project was shelved, however, and Microsoft didn't make a phone-based product again until Windows Mobile, the company's first attempt at a smartphone operating system. The system wasn't compatible with Windows NT and Macintosh for an unknown reason.

The Microsoft Digital Sound System 80.

The unit featured a 22W subwoofer and two 16W left/right speakers.
Tested.com

Microsoft and Phillips teamed up in 1998 to product the Digital Sound System 80, the only speaker system ever manufactured by Microsoft.

The system, unveiled during the 1998 Electronic Entertainment Expo, was one of the first to have integrated sound hardware, meaning the PC didn't need a dedicated sound card. Additionally, the Sound 80 had a 3.5mm line-in as well as a USB port.

The Sound 80 came with an interesting glitch: tapping either the + or - buttons could increase the volume to maximum or minimum respectively with no way to stop it beyond hitting mute.

4/

A fingerprint reader.

The Microsoft fingerprint reader could store up to 10 fingerprints.
Microsoft

The Surface Hub.

No one has ever seen a Surface Hub in the wild, except these three people.
Microsoft

The Surface Hub, which gave its name to Microsoft's tablet line, is described as an "interactive whiteboard" that runs Windows 10.

There are two distinct models: a 1080p, 55-inch version and a 4K, 84-inch version which cost $7,000 (£4,500) and $20,000 (£13,000) respectively.

The Hub is essentially a giant, wall-mounted touchscreen PC that can perform all of the usual computer tasks, such as taking notes, Minesweeper, and video conferencing.

The company currently sells the Surface Hub to businesses with really big walls.

6/

A children's game.

Microsoft was briefly involved with the Teletubbies.
Teletubbies Wikia

Microsoft's foray into children's toys lasted from 1997 until 2000 and involved collaborations with the makers of the "Teletubbies," "Arthur," and "Barney."

The products became a success over the holiday season and could interact with a TV or computer — although not with a PC — usually a special TV or PC Pack. The toys were aimed at the educational market, offering a "yes" or "no" response to answers from a child.

It's still unclear why Microsoft discontinued this project.

7/

Zune.

The Zune lost out to the iPod, despite having arguably better hardware.
Microsoft

The Zune, introduced in 2006, was an attempt by Microsoft to go head-to-head with Apple in the portable media player market. By 2011, the device had been discontinued due to poor sales.

Much of what made up the Zune — especially in terms of software design — became part of both Windows 8 and the Xbox (the zune.net domain redirects to the Xbox website).

A non-Xbox game controller.

Quite a step away from the sleek controlled of the Xbox One.
Microsoft

The SideWinder controller debuted in 1995 as part of Microsoft's move into PC gaming. It was intended only to work with Windows PCs but the hardware could also be used with the Apple Mac and Linux systems.

Microsoft discontinued the SideWinder in 2003 due to poor sales and all game-related branding is now done via Xbox One.

10/

A fitness Band.

The Band, which is a fitness band, goes up against Fitbit.
Screenshot

Microsoft recently refreshed its little-known Band at an event that demoed the Surface Pro 4, new Lumia devices and a Surface laptop and so it's easy to see how the fitness tracker that came out in 2014 got lost.

The Band runs Windows 10, is compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows 10 Mobile, and can do almost every fitness-related task just as well as the Apple Watch or various Fitbit models.

11/

A 360 degree video conference camera.

The RoundTable is huge.
Microsoft

The RoundTable was developed by Microsoft Research and released in 2007 as a high-end video conferencing solution that could show a 360 degree view of the room using five cameras and several mirrors.

The webcam cost around $3,000 (£1,940) and worked with Office 2007. Beyond the panoramic view, RoundTable included six microphones that located the speaker within the room and focused a camera on them.